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Sunday, April 14, 2013

I'm starting to see little signs of spring everywhere I look in Seattle. New grass is sprouting through the dirt and our backyard birds are excitedly rounding up twigs for their nests. I wanted to celebrate the changing season with some small gifts for our friends and neighbors so I created these simple wild flower seed ornaments!

These are really easy to make and can be customized to your taste or the supplies you have on hand.

Start by cutting your book pages (or paper of your choice) into 2 3.5" squares. Place the two pieces together and head to your sewing machine! With a ~1/4" seam, stitch around the right, bottom and left sides of the pages, leaving the top open.

You'll now have a little paper pocket!

Pinch open the pocket and fill with a couple of small spoonfuls of your wild flower seeds. Don't over fill otherwise closing your pocket will get a bit messy!

Shake all of the seeds to the bottom of the pocket and head back to your sewing machine.

Stitch across the open pocket top being careful to hold the seeds at the bottom so they don't spill out or get in the way of your needle.

The wildflower seeds will now be secure in their pocket and you can start decorating it any way you'd like!

I used a bee stamp and a set of floral stamps to decorate card stock and glue it to the front of the pocket. You could stamp directly on the pocket or decorate with stickers or markers or anything else!

Once you're happy with the design, punch a whole in the top of the seed packet outside of the stitching and run your ribbon or twine through for hanging. .

On the back, you'll want to provide some simple directions for planting. I used the instructions on the back of the seed bag I purchased but dummied them down a bit :).

Lastly, give them away!! Try leaving one on your neighbors door, hanging one in the park, delivering one to a coworkers desk or give them away at a spring party! I think they could also make cute and simple wedding favors.

Each one takes about 5 minutes from start to finish so it's easy to make a ton of them and spread a lot of spring love!

Sunday, April 7, 2013

I've been pouring over the Dewey Decimal Guide finding inspiration for all kinds of craft projects... a hot pad with the code for cook books (641.5), a collar with the code for dogs (636.7), a laptop bag with the code for computers (004)... the possibilities are endless!

I want to share the Dewey fun with all of you so I'm giving away two sewing journals printed with the code for sewing, 646.2.

The first is a wonky patchwork cover made with linen and quilting cottons. Inside is a lined Moleskine journal that is ~5" x 8".

The second journal is also made with quilting cottons and a bit of linen. Instead of stamping the sewing code, I stenciled it with fabric paints. This is also a Moleskine journal but it's smaller than the first at ~3" x 5".

If you'd like to win one of these journals, just leave a comment sharing what you have planned for your next sewing project! If you follow my blog, leave two comments and double your chances! This giveaway is open to my cyber friends around the world. I'll pick two winners next Sunday, April 14th.

**If you are a no-reply blogger, please be sure to provide contact information in your comment so I can reach you.**

Saturday, April 6, 2013

April is proving to be a busy month around the Lime Riot household! We've had birthdays to celebrate, family to gather with, veterinarians to visit, TONS of work to do and a business trip to India to plan for. .. and this is just the first week!

With all of the real-life chaos around here, crafting and cyber-time has been a luxury I haven't been able to afford. In order to steal a few much needed quiet creative moments, I popped out of bed before 6am this morning, poured myself a big cup of coffee and headed straight to my craft room!

I emerged a few hours later with a new project completed.

I (insanely) purchased a lot of yarn for a knit afghan recently and needed a larger project bag to store and carry the supplies in so I made this reversible tote.

The little yarn design was stenciled with fabric paint onto a piece of linen. And what are those mysteriously random numbers - 746.43??

746.43 is the Dewey Decimal number for knitting books! The idea was inspired by this adorable fairy tale pendant. When I saw it, I thought of a million different Dewey categories that I wanted to look up! You can find numbers for everything from Antiques to Zoology on this site.

The back is a simple patchwork design and I made it reversible so I could use it for things other than knitting projects once my afghan is finished, in 100 years!

Now that I have the supplies and the project bag, I can officially get to work on my afghan. I predict it will be finished by winter 2041.

I made another Dewey Decimal project while I was sequestered in my craft room today and I plan to give it away to one of my readers!! Stay tuned for a chance to win in the next couple of days.

I hope that your month has been a bit more peaceful than mine! Thanks for being patient with my random comings and goings this month. Normalcy should return in May :).